'Dead Poets Society' stage adaptation offers a romantic antidote to punishment-driven education dramas

Opening July 18 at Nol Theatre in Daehangno

A 'true teacher' for the age of 'true education' discourse

Cha In-pyo makes his stage debut 33 years after entering the industry

"Wary of heroizing Keating — the work explores the value of mentorship"

Actors Oh Man-seok (from left), Cha In-pyo and Yeon Jung-hoon pose at a production press conference for the stage adaptation of "Dead Poets Society," in which all three play the role of John Charles Keating. [Yonhap]

As a Netflix drama series about restoring collapsed teacher authority through satisfying punishment captivates audiences worldwide, a play arrives that takes the opposite approach — returning to an age of innocence and a vision of what a true teacher can be. The stage adaptation of "Dead Poets Society" speaks to education in a way that runs entirely counter to the harsh, sensationalized discourse dominating the conversation today.

Actor Cha In-pyo, speaking Monday morning at a production press conference at the Artists' House in Jongno-gu, Seoul, said "'Dead Poets Society' is not a work that judges whether the education system is right or wrong — it asks questions about values."

The play tells the story of a teacher and his students living in a "romantic era" 36 years ago. The 1989 film of the same name, starring Robin Williams, delivered a message of healing to audiences around the world, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 62nd ceremony and both Best Film and Best Original Score at the 43rd BAFTA Awards. It follows John Charles Keating, an English teacher who arrives at Welton Academy — a prestigious boarding school where Ivy League admission is the paramount goal — and the students whose lives he transforms by teaching them to think for themselves and choose their own paths. The film is remembered for lines such as "O Captain, My Captain" and "Carpe diem — seize the day."

After its Off-Broadway premiere in New York in 2016, the production ran for two consecutive sold-out years in Paris in 2024, drawing a cumulative audience of 350,000, and received six nominations across five categories at the 35th Molière Awards.

The play, set to open next month, does not merely evoke nostalgia for the film or replicate it. In a society grown accustomed to cathartic punishment, it poses fundamental questions about the essence of education and the existential choices each person must make.

Kim Yong-gwan, chief executive of producer Mast International, said he immediately sensed the production's resonance. "At a time when 'true education' has become such a charged social keyword, I had an instinct that this work would carry enormous weight," he said.

The vision of genuine education that "Dead Poets Society" presents differs entirely from the way media tends to consume the concept. Where webtoons and drama series portray true education as a heroic narrative — one individual using personal power to patch over a broken system — this work turns its questions inward, toward the individual living within the vast framework of institutions.

A scene from the production press conference for the stage adaptation of "Dead Poets Society." [Yonhap]

Cha, who plays Keating, drew a clear line between the production and the education dramas currently generating buzz. "I watched the education dramas that have been in the spotlight recently — they gave me a dopamine rush, and I empathized with the heartbreaking reality they depict," he said. "However, our work is not about judging whether the education system itself is right or wrong, or calling for the system to change." He went on to say the play is "an existential story that asks the individual breathing within the system: what do you value, and what choices will you make in your life?"

Cha has been a fixture of television and film since his debut in 1993 and has been active as a writer in recent years, but this production marks his first time on the theatrical stage. Yeon Jung-hoon, who also plays Keating, is likewise making his stage debut with this production.

Cha recalled watching the film as a 23-year-old in 1990 at a small neighborhood cinema. "The faces of the audience coming out of the theater all looked the same," he said. "They were the faces of people each thinking of their own answer to the question Keating had posed — 'What poem will you write with your life?'" He added: "Having lived 36 more years since then, I've come to know that what Mr. Keating said was right. Life is a drama each of us writes for ourselves, and it is a process of trying to break free from the molds we are placed in."

For guidance on his stage debut, Cha turned to Oh Man-seok, a seasoned theater veteran who also plays Keating. "His advice was simply to go wild," Cha said. "I chose this challenge to break out of the mold I had been confined to as a performer. Every day I sweat alongside young actors, and I am experiencing a remarkable awakening — feeling my acting instincts come back to life."

Yeon said he felt nervous stepping onto the stage for the first time, but that this was a production he had always wanted to take on at least once in his career. "Playing Mr. Keating, I've come to feel that what I say to the students may not be the right answer," he said. "I am merely explaining that these options exist, and that choosing this path is how you might avoid regret."

For Oh, the production carries deeper personal significance. He currently serves as a professor at the Korea National University of Arts' School of Drama, where he trains the next generation of performers. "A teacher is simply someone who was born earlier and has lived longer — nothing more," he said. "Showing my students how I live, through the arc of my own life, is what I believe true education really means."

Actor Cha In-pyo, who plays John Charles Keating in the stage adaptation of "Dead Poets Society." [Yonhap]

Adapting a beloved source for the stage demanded deep deliberation from the director. The production resists unconditional praise or romanticized glorification. Director Jo Gwang-hwa was wary of enshrining Keating as a flawless hero.

"This work must not be confined to a closed story set within a school," Jo said. "Seen broadly, it is an exploration of the universal web of relationships between teacher and student, mentor and a person trying to forge their own path."

Jo focused on what he called the "ambivalent nature" of mentorship. Top student Neil Perry — played by Kim Rak-hyeon, Lee Jae-hwan and Chan-hee — awakens to the values of romance and freedom that Keating instills, only to collide with an unyielding reality in the form of his father's control and arrive at a tragic choice. Jo said the arc is not a simple story of liberation. He recalled that when a former university student once confided that he had been deeply influenced by him, "I felt the weight of that." He added: "Encouraging young people to leave behind established constraints and walk their own path always carries risk and danger."

The production therefore offers the audience neither sweet consolation nor clear-cut answers. Instead, it captures both the social responsibility of a mentor who awakens souls and the inherent dangers that a journey toward freedom necessarily entails.

To transplant the film's dramatic narrative and rapid scene changes onto the stage, the creative team undertook bold aesthetic experimentation. Rather than following the original play as written, the key was a localization aimed at resonating emotionally with the realities of Korean education.

"The structure of the original script is nearly identical to the film, so we wrestled deeply with how to handle scene transitions given the limitations of set divisions on stage," Jo said. "We left the space open rather than dividing it into specific sets. We also exposed the lighting rigs to make it clear that this is theater, and structured it like a game — following the film's story as it unfolds on stage." Oh said he was confident audiences "will find it every bit as entertaining as the film."

The conversation about education — more heated now than ever — finds two opposing answers in "true education" dramas that deliver catharsis through violent punishment, and in "Dead Poets Society," which offers reflection through questions. Cha said he hoped the production would give audiences of all ages a chance to look inward. "I hope that those dreaming of a second or third chapter in their lives will also find an opportunity to look back at themselves," he said.

shee@heraldcorp.com